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Post by andydecker on May 7, 2009 18:24:44 GMT
Good point. I have to confess that Gothics have become a guilty pleasure of mine. They can be so funny. Not only is the plot mostly out of this world, the heroines are so dumb ;D
It is quite a fascinating sub-genre, you never know what you get when you open a novel, a competent told novel which is fun or a boring laughable mess. You could argue that this goes for every genre, but especially in the Gothic this is kind of extreme.
It is kind of an exemplary american literature of it´s time: on the one hand prudish and afraid of sex, the orphan or the pennyless gouvernante in peril over and over again, on the other hand the strong heroine which triumphs against evil - of course with the help of the handsome guy - and finds her love. It´s like having your cake and eating it too :-) Comfort reading. No wonder that it was so successful.
I agree. Some of those stories are unbelievable. I marveld at some of Norvell Page´s Spider novels, where you had this unbelievable sadistic massacre in New York every month, or some of those Terror Tales with their insane mistresses of doom :-) If you notice the publication date you have to wonder if all those tales of a repressed age are just not a mythos.
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Post by dem bones on May 8, 2009 12:06:02 GMT
Virginia Coffman - Castle At Witches Coven ( Lancer 1966, Paitkus, 1988) Here's some kind of testament to the enduring popularity of the Gothic Romances. It's not really the case today, but at the close of the eighties/ early 'nineties, the British publisher Paitkus were good for original supernatural 'non-fiction' titles by the likes of Peter Underwood, Jenny Randles, Paul Devereaux, Peter Hough, etc. Castle At Witches Coven had been published at least twenty-plus years earlier in a Lancer Easy-Eye edition but someone must have loved it enough to reissue it in hardcover. Photo: Art Directors Photo Library Jacket Design: Ken Leeder He said his name was Philippe de Vaudraye, and explained that he was the brother of lovely Climene Beauhan’s dead fiancé. He told her he had been away in England for a number of years and had only returned to the family castle shortly before Climene’s own arrival there.
But the villagers whispered of evil doings on the estate, and of another Philippe - the god of the witches - who had been executed four hundred years ago. A Philippe who returned every hundred years to lead the coven in its devilish work. A Philippe who looked just like the man standing before Climene now, bewitching her with his golden eyes, beckoning to her to follow him down a path from which there was no return…[/color]
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Jun 19, 2010 14:22:50 GMT
Dem's already mentioned the Collinwood website, but I've just noticed there's an interview with the genuine Marilyn Ross, widow of Dan Ross, on the site - www.collinwood.net/features/interview/ross.htmI'm currently going through a revival of interest in Dark Shadows, so I'll need to dig out my handful of Ross paperbacks and give them another read - after I've finished Lara (Angelique) Parker's second DS novel, "The Salem Branch", which flits between 1971 Collinwood and Salem during the height of the witch trials.
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chastel
Crab On The Rampage
Where wolf? There castle!
Posts: 42
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Post by chastel on Jun 19, 2010 23:29:28 GMT
I have read Dark Shadows novels Dream of the dark and Salem Branch, liking both very much. Ah, I love trappings of Gothic romance! ;D
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Post by dem bones on Jun 20, 2010 7:03:16 GMT
Thanks for putting us onto that fascinating interview, lurks. Dan Ross comes over as a proper old school pulpster in the Syd Bounds mould - a western one week, a gothic romance the next, then onto a horror or mystery ....
During the great vampire fanzine explosion of the early nineties there were a surprising number of amateur publications devoted entirely to Dark Shadows, predominantly fan fiction if I remember correctly. Well, that and some very heated "discussions" over the merits of the short lived revival of the TV series.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Jun 21, 2010 18:17:30 GMT
Loads more Dark Shadows covers and blurbs, plus more from the prolific Mr Ross, and tons of other Gothic Romance goodies are at the brilliantly named 'Women Running From Houses' Blog, here; womenrunningfromhouses.blogspot.com/Chastel, if you enjoyed 'Dreams of the Dark' and 'The Salem Branch', you'd probably like 'Angelique's Descent' (wasn't sure if was going to, but it turned out to be a great read). There's an audiobook version of it, too, from Big Finish, who've been continuing the exploits at Collinwood with a new range of Dark Shadows audio plays and readings. www.bigfinish.com/Dark-Shadows
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 21, 2010 20:45:00 GMT
Great concept - women running from houses.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 22, 2010 14:51:06 GMT
Great concept - women running from houses. And they all bought the same nightgown
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 22, 2010 23:23:45 GMT
Great concept - women running from houses. And they all bought the same nightgown I just love this. I never thought about the idea before but its just true. Millions of similar looking women in similar nightwear fleeing similar mansions. What is it all about? What's in that house?
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Post by andydecker on Jun 23, 2010 9:33:02 GMT
Victorias´s Secret?
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 23, 2010 17:14:29 GMT
Victorias´s Secret? The dastard!!!
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Post by shonokin on Jun 23, 2010 17:16:51 GMT
Well I never went by "Marilyn" but I'm a Dan Ross. I read a few of the first Dark Shadows books in the '70s. I thought at the time they were well-written but would be afraid to retread that ground again for fear of it not being as good as I remembered.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 23, 2010 18:15:58 GMT
I just love this. I never thought about the idea before but its just true. Millions of similar looking women in similar nightwear fleeing similar mansions. What is it all about? What's in that house? Actually, the standard template is: woman in nightgown fleeing from a house in which a single window is lit.
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Post by noose on Jun 23, 2010 18:50:20 GMT
fucking hell, you're right. NEVER ,made that connection before. Well done you! (but you do realise the hunt is now on for a cover that has a house with two lit windows in it???)
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 23, 2010 19:04:28 GMT
It is not my own observation; I have connections in the publishing business who explained this to me a long, long time ago.
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